See ((Medical malpractice/negligence))
Misdiagnosis is defined as the failure to establish an accurate and timely explanation of a patient’s health problem(s), or the communication of that explanation, resulting in a diagnosis that is wrong, missed, or delayed, as judged by subsequent, more definitive information or outcomes.
This encompasses situations where a disease is incorrectly identified as another, a diagnosis is not made when it should have been, or the correct diagnosis is made only after an avoidable delay.
It is estimated that 5% of US adults who seek medical care each year, receive a diagnostic error, sometimes with severe consequences.
Three major categories account for almost 75 percent of all serious harms from misdiagnosis: vascular events like heart attack and stroke, infections, and cancers .
The most frequently missed conditions include:
Vascular Events Stroke is missed in about 17.5% of cases Jand is particularly under-diagnosed in younger, female, and white patients.
Heart attacks Aortic aneurysm and dissection
Infections: Sepsis Meningitis and encephalitis Pneumonia Spinal infections
Cancers: Lung cancer Breast, colorectal, prostate, and skin cancers
In the United States, 12 million people are affected by medical diagnostic errors each year, with an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 people dying annually from complications from these misdiagnoses
Women and minorities are 20 to 30 percent more likely to be misdiagnosed.
About 20 percent of people who seek a second opinion got a completely different diagnosis, while 66 percent receive a refined or redefined diagnosis.
The overall average error rate across diseases is estimated at 11.1%, but ranges widely from 1.5% for heart attack to 62% for spinal abscess.
Misdiagnosis arises from an interplay of cognitive errors-faulty data gathering, knowledge gaps, or synthesis errors, system-related factors -communication breakdowns or test limitations, and patient-related factors-atypical presentations or misleading histories.
The consequences of misdiagnosis are significant, including unnecessary tests or procedures, delayed or inappropriate treatment, and increased risk of patient harm, including morbidity and mortality.
Pitfalls that predispose to misdiagnosis, such as mistaking one disease for another, failure to appreciate test limitations, and not following up on evolving symptoms.
Systemic gnome sequencing helps to understand the phenotypic heterogeneity of common diseases and identifies failure to diagnose rare diseases.
Heterogeneity of clinical symptoms is arguably the primary reason why many patients with rare diseases remain without a diagnosis or have a misdiagnosis for years.